As a professional actress, mother of six, wife and co-director of a children's choir, Mary Fanning Driggs considers herself a contented, though sometimes exhausted, working mom.
"I think it's more than I expected," the actress says of the rewarding yet complicated life she leads. "It's like juggling 10 balls, I always say. But so far it works."
In the past 14 years, Driggs has performed in 12 productions around the Salt Lake Valley, including ""Smokey Joe's Cafe,"" ""Evita,"" ""Annie Get Your Gun"" and most recently as a member of the ensemble cast in the Pioneer Theatre Company's (PTC) regional production of ""Les Miserables,"" which closed Saturday.
Of all the many parts she's played, she says her most important role is her off-stage work as a mother. Caring for her six children while performing in eight shows a week makes for a busy, and at times stressful, schedule. "I think moms generally get overwhelmed, whether you have one child or 10. It's a hard job, and it's the number one job.""
Originally from the South, Driggs got her acting start at age 15. Under the direction of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, who was an NYU student and drama teacher at the time, Driggs attended a theatrical summer camp for gifted children. Her parents, who were both singers, also introduced her to musical theater by playing show tunes and operas as she grew up, she says.
While attending Brigham Young University in 1983, Driggs met her husband, David Driggs, when the two were performing in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the Lagoon Opera House. They married in 1986 and moved to New York for seven years, where Driggs says she thought a lot about what she wanted for herself and her family.
"After being there, I made the choice to come (back to Utah). I wanted a big family — New York wasn't really conducive to that," she says.
The couple's first three children, two boys and a girl, were born in New York, and three more daughters were born after the family moved back to Utah in 1993. Driggs says she and her husband make music a priority in their home, even for their young children. "We kind of focus on music and church. ... That's what we feel we can give to our kids."
All six of their kids are musicians, and some play more than one instrument. There are two pianists, three violinists and a guitarist. Though her daughters take violin lessons from an instructor, Driggs says she tries to spend time practicing with them every day.
Accommodating so many children, most of whom can't drive, while also performing six nights a week requires the help of others, she says. "My husband and I laugh, but (when I'm in a show) it takes about five people to do what I normally do. I have people driving my kids, I have someone who helps clean my house, my husband does things, my mother does things, my children do things."
Because of the demands, Driggs says she's learned to be organized and productive on her breaks and days off. When she was doing the 2003 PTC production of "Smokey Joe's Cafe," some castmates came back from a dinner break and said they had been so tired, they went home and took a nap on their time off. "I was laughing because on the dinner break I came home and took someone to a violin lesson and went to the grocery store and fixed dinner — all in about a two-hour break — and picked someone up from a lesson.
"By the time I got back to rehearsal I was so stressed and just exhausted."
During rehearsals for "Les Miz," the working day for Driggs began at 10:30 a.m., lasting until 7 or 8 in the evening. Because it was a longer-running production for PTC — lasting 2 1/2 months instead of the usual 2 1/2 weeks most shows run — rehearsals continued throughout the production as some cast members left or switched roles. Driggs continued to rehearse as she played Madame Thenardier on a few dates in June and July. She says she didn't get home until 11 on most nights, which was when she would usually go to the grocery store.
"I have to have everything lined up," she says. "And I do. I've been known to have 30 meals in the freezer."
Unlike other actors who work back-to-back productions, the Equity actress prefers doing only one show a year. "There have been some times when I have done two in one theater season, but that's hard."
Although it can make life hectic, Driggs loves performing. "It's part of who I am, and fortunately I have a family who understands that," she says. "It's like with any mother who has a passion. Whether it's painting or music, whether you do it professionally or as a hobby, I think it's important for mothers and women to be able to follow their passions."
Driggs feels very lucky to be able to fulfill her goals as both a mother and a professional actress. "Working at Pioneer Theatre kind of gives me the best of both worlds.
"I can be here and have my house and my garden and my large family, but I can also do Broadway-quality shows with talented professional actors."
E-mail: mfarmer@desnews.com